Teaching Writing 2012

Teaching Writing 2012

Multi-modal Mixed-media Methods for Teaching Composition

Elizabeth TaskerAssistant Professor

SFA Lower Division Writing Program Administrator

Background Funded by a grant from the Texas Higher Education

Board Success Initiative. Summer 2010 – Tasker and Thomas conducted a

literature review on college writing readiness. Summer 2011 – First annual Teaching Writing summer

symposium at SFA. Summer 2012 – Second annual Teaching Writing

summer symposium will be held at SFA. Fall 2012 – roll out of Composition in the Pineywoods

website. Future?

Special thanks to

Deb Kiesel, SFA Director of Academic Advising

Mark Sanders, SFA English Department Chair

What we did at our first symposium: Teaching Writing 2011

DAY 1 Morning – Teaching College Readiness Afternoon – Teaching the Personal Narrative  DAY 2 Morning – Teaching Summary and Exposition Afternoon – Teaching Analysis DAY 3 Morning – Teaching Synthesis Afternoon – Teaching Argument DAY 4 Morning – Teaching Research Afternoon –Teaching the Short Story

Focus for Teaching Writing 2012: Multi-modal Mixed-media Methods

DAY 1 Morning – Visual Composition Strategies Afternoon – Prezis in the Composition Classroom  DAY 2 Morning – Collaborative Learning to Maximize Critical Thinking Afternoon – Harnessing Students’ Own Technology as a Teaching Tool DAY 3 Morning – Composing a Profession: Case Study of Writing and Nursing Afternoon – Technology in the Classroom Roundtable DAY 4 Morning – Teaching Developmental Writing Afternoon –Teaching Poetry

National Findings One-third of high school students planning to attend

college do not meet the readiness standards for college composition courses (ACT 2005)

70% of secondary school students “low-achieving” writers (National Assessment of Educational Progress 2007)

Of 1,500 surveyed high school graduates from the class of 2010, 33% say their high school should have done a better job preparing them for college-level work (College Board 2011)

Survey of College Teachers

65% think high school standards do not prepare students for college: High school curriculum is not aligned to

college requirements. High school is focused on too wide of a

coverage of topics. More focus is needed on rigorous critical

thinking, big ideas in key content areas, and academic behavior and work habits.

Critiques of College Classes

Longitudinal study of student performance across six U.S. colleges: Only 45% of students showed improvement on

test scores by the end of sophomore year. 36% of seniors did not improve significantly. Half of the students were not required to write a

total of 20 pages for any class throughout college. One third were not required to read more than 40

pages per week for any class.

Ground Truth: your own experiences with students

The stuff of our jobs today:

What is multimodality? Modes - “ways of representing information”

e.g., words, sounds, images, animation Media -“the ‘tools and material resources’

used to produce and disseminate texts” e.g., books, tv, computers, pencils, human voice

Genres – kinds of texts or artistic productions, e.g., novels, songs, reality shows, essays, cartoons, films, paintings, sculptures

Modes of Learning What we Read What we Hear What we See What we both See and Hear What we Discuss with others What we Experience What we Teach someone else

“The modes” of discourse (now viewed as methods of paragraph development)

Narration Description Exposition Argument Definition Process Example Classification and Division Compare/Contrast Cause and Effect

21st century literacy

Multimodality and Composition Pedagogy

Modes of Learning +

Modes of Discourse +

Literacy

Historic Trends in Composition Pedagogy Early 20th century - Current Traditional Model

“the modes”; product focused

Later 20th century - Process Pedagogyskills-based (invention, drafting, revision) and expressivist, cognitive, or rhetorical focus

The past two decades – Post Process “the social turn”; writing as service (pre-service, in-service, service learning, mentoring, peer review)

Now?

Current State of Composition NCTE 2008 guidelines: effective composition

pedagogy is holistic, authentic, varied, and collaborative

Multimedia, multimodal Recent trends:

Primary research (enabled by digital tools) Explication of cultural material; objects A reconsideration of aesthetics?

Think, Write, Share

1. Your greatest strength as a teacher 2. Your classroom compared to an object or

entity (using either metaphor or simile) 3. A multi-modal or mixed-media activity or

technique to try in your classroom 4. Introduce yourself and share some piece of

the information from above (in one minute or less).

Our Approach to College Readiness A regional model with the university as a hub Multiple, collaborative, grass roots projects Sharing of ideas across departments and

institutions Involvement of instructors, students, tutors,

and other direct stakeholders Longevity: a multi-year regional effort

Let’s collaborate!

pwcomp.sfasu.edu

Let’s take a break!

Resume in 30 minutes.

Workshop 1: Visual Composition Strategies Visual Invention

Poster design Story boarding Mixed-media notebooks

The Lesson of Objects (Hesse, Sommers, and Yancey)

Exercise: Critical reading and information design

Poster Design

Storyboarding

From two students’ satire notebooks

From a student’s satire notebook on Education

From a student’s satire notebook on Education

From a student’s satire notebook on Institutions

From an student’s satire notebook on Institutions

Satire notebook on “states of nature”

Entry on reason and mankind

Satire notebooks on Gender

Entry on the female stereotype

Entry on lesbianism

Entry on masculinity

Entry on the “soft side of bravery”

Entries on gender: Swift vs. Montagu

Materials and Objects Hesse, Doug. Nancy Sommers, and Kathleen

Blake Yancey.“Evocative Objects: Reflections on Teaching, Learning, and Living in Between.” College English 74.4 (2012): 325-350.

“The Lesson of Objects” – a 2012 CCCCs presentation by Hesse, Sommers, and Yancey

Adaptable for many explication assignments and units

Exercise: Critical Reading and Information Design

1. Read and annotate “Guidelines for Teacher Evaluation” in Appendix for Workshop 1.

2. Design a poster to advocate your group’s analysis and position:- Use only information from the essay. - Arrange in logical groupings. - Use headings.- Use 2-4 visual images.